Who/What Saved Apollo?

Palomar · 2004-12-22 21:33:53

*A bit tongue in cheek, a bit serious.

Bill White's post in the "Dr. Jeffrey Bell" thread in the Human Missions folder was the "inspiration."

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/oped-04zr.html]Article here

Discuss?

--Cindy

GraemeSkinner · 2004-12-22 22:37:37

I'm too young to remember the events first hand :;): but I'd think it was a combination of a couple of things, the will of the American people, yes, for without good public support a major project will likely fail, the Soviet Union also helped to some degree as well, without the competition to get there first Apollo might not have has as much governmental support as it did, and so less funding. I'm not sure how much 'The Graduate' helped

Graeme

Palomar · 2004-12-23 08:57:58

*Aw darn...too bad we can't edit poll choices.

Heres]http://www.classictvhits.com/shows/idreamofjeannie/pics/IDOJ02.jpg]Here's what really saved the Apollo Program

http://otakuworld.com/kiss/dolls/images … if]Captain Anthony Nelson -- NASA astronaut (But I don't think he and "Rog" ever made it to the Moon).

(Yes, this is what saved Apollo...not Star Trek!)

--Cindy

Cobra Commander · 2004-12-23 09:08:09

I attribute it to essentially two factors. First was the national desire to beat the Russians, after Sputnik and Gagarin we needed to rub their faces in something. That's why it was seriously considered in the first place, no Red Menace, no Moon-shot.

Second, I don't believe that the mission would been carried out had Kennedy lived. He called for it very publicly, then some nutbag shot him. Suddenly we not only have Russkis to beat but a martyr to honor. Without the fulfilling the vision of a murdered (and popular) President angle it almost certainly would have been cut, certainly after the Apollo 1 fire if not before.

So here's to evil empires and dead Presidents. <raises glass>

:hm: Cobra's going to be visited by three goons in black suits for that.

BWhite · 2004-12-23 09:53:45

I agree with Cobra:

Finishing Apollo was about reverence to the whole myth of Camelot and JFK as Arthurian King - - before race riots, before Vietnam turned ugly etc. . . (Think Jackie Kennedy, John-John saluting his father's casket, Camelot as Broadway play etc. . .)

Naturally, Camelot was a myth but to abandon Apollo in the mid 1960s would have been to reject that myth and show disrespect to our martyred boy-hero king, JFK.

Also, it appears the Soviets were far closer to the Moon than we knew. Astronautix.com has a few marvelous articles about how the Soviets deliberately lied about the Moon race once it was clear they had lost.

"We lost, you say? Nah. We were never racing in the first place." Walter Cronkite fell for that one hook, line and sinker.

Edited By BWhite on 1103817425

Palomar · 2004-12-23 10:13:34

*So...neither of you guys think Jeannie, Capt. Nelson and Major Healey had anything to do with saving Apollo? ??? Even remotely?

Seriously?

:;):

Well, I can't deny LHO's role in this. A pity, though, that he is glorified in this manner. A loser and a punk on the same level as John Hinckley, and who is well documented to have been willing to do just about anything to be famous. Including murder (or attempted murder...it's likely one of those persons on the grassy knoll fired the killing shot).

The stuff of life (and death)? Apparently (sadly).

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/5746]And in case you were wondering about the green uniform...

--Cindy

MarsDog · 2004-12-23 18:16:45

The Russians were first to orbit a satellite.
First Dog in space, but gave up after they lost the first Human to the Moon.

Had the Russians won the Moon race, then, US would have had to prove it's superiority by first to Mars ....... etc.

Someone could be camping out in the Oort cloud by now.

dicktice · 2004-12-23 19:07:14

I love "alternative history" stories. If Kennedy had not been assinated: The Vietnam war would not have happened. The Apollo landings would not have been curtailed. Mir would still be in operation. The Space Shuttle and Buran space transportation systems would employed piloted flyback boosters, and been mutually dockable. The underside tiles would have been constantly improved, and powered, angle-of-attack and delayed atmospheric reentry used to prevent undersurfaces from overheating. Hybrid-electric motor vehicles would have virtually eliminated the cause of city smog attributed to idling traffic, by now. UN peacekeeping internationally supported, resulting in the spread of education, reduced birthrates, dictatorial takeovers leading to famines, genocides and terrorism. A joint US/Soviet Mars expedition have taken place by now. The Kennedy assination occurred at a pivotal time technologically in history, because of the coming of age of worldwide communications (satcoms), transportation (commercial jets), electronic controls (solid-state switching), Space travel (liquid-fuel rocketry), nuclear power (breeder reactors), solar power (photoelectric silicon cells), nuclear submarines (mutually assured destruction threats), inertial guidance (recallable cruise missles vs. doomsday ballistic warheads), etc. Everything was new, except the assassin that resides in humanity. That, and our tendency to depend on single personalities who, when their lives are snuffed out, leave no one capable of filling their shoes. What a future--to have been frittered away on politics as usual. There's still time for at least one more go, before the forces of reaction take over, this time by fresh new commercial enthusiasm, rather than pumped-up patriotic rivalry. This activity, with the capability of being monitored and understood in realtime by all of Earth's peoples, routinely, as they go about their lives, represents the next pivotal time for space travel to literally takeoff. Hopefully, not the last . . . but if this IS it, let's not blow it again, World.

Cobra Commander · 2004-12-24 08:34:18

I love "alternative history" stories. If Kennedy had not been assinated: The Vietnam war would not have happened. The Apollo landings would not have been curtailed. Mir would still be in operation. The Space Shuttle and Buran space transportation systems would employed piloted flyback boosters, and been mutually dockable. The underside tiles would have been constantly improved, and powered, angle-of-attack and delayed atmospheric reentry used to prevent undersurfaces from overheating. Hybrid-electric motor vehicles would have virtually eliminated the cause of city smog attributed to idling traffic, by now. UN peacekeeping internationally supported, resulting in the spread of education, reduced birthrates, dictatorial takeovers leading to famines, genocides and terrorism. A joint US/Soviet Mars expedition have taken place by now.

Or Vietnam would have gone just as it did (Kennedy was the first to send to send troops), Apollo would have been cancelled letting the Russians move slower and not blow up their behemoth rocket on the pad, full-on military confrontation with the Soviet Union may well have been more likely (I suspect the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved more out of Kruschev's understanding that the USSR was not ready for it rather than Kennedy's diplomatic and strategic prowess), but at least we might have avoided LBJ and his ill-conceived "Great Society" nonsense.

But since none of us can back any of this up, no sense arguing it.

The point being that JFK just isn't that important in the grand scheme of things. The world today probably wouldn't be appreciably different were he still alive today. With the notable exception that there would most likely be no flag on the Moon.

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#1 2004-12-22 21:33:53

Re: Who/What Saved Apollo?

#2 2004-12-22 22:37:37

Re: Who/What Saved Apollo?

#3 2004-12-23 08:57:58

Re: Who/What Saved Apollo?

#4 2004-12-23 09:08:09

Re: Who/What Saved Apollo?

#5 2004-12-23 09:53:45

Re: Who/What Saved Apollo?

#6 2004-12-23 10:13:34

Re: Who/What Saved Apollo?

#7 2004-12-23 18:16:45

Re: Who/What Saved Apollo?

#8 2004-12-23 19:07:14

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#9 2004-12-24 08:34:18

Re: Who/What Saved Apollo?

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